Smart Futures Lab Demo Day to Showcase Cutting-Edge Tech

Using AI to detect sewer leaks for quicker repairs and blending AI and sensors to provide precise, timely, and actionable intelligence to keep people safe from wildfires and environmental hazards are among the innovations local and national start-up companies are pursuing through CU Denver’s Smart Futures Lab this year. 

The 10 companies participating in this year’s incubator and accelerator programs, offered through the Smart Futures Lab, promise to deliver exciting tech to address many problems that our communities face. Representatives from the companies will explain their work or demonstrate their prototypes from noon to 3 p.m. on Aug. 22, the lab’s annual Demo Day. CU Denver faculty are leading two of the companies in the incubator program, which demonstrates how academic research makes its journey to market, where it can impact the world. 

Students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited to visit the company’s tables during the event, which coincides with the university’s annual Block Party to celebrate the start of the new academic year. The demo tables will be located at the intersection of 14th and Larimer streets. Demo Day is also a great opportunity for investors interested in startup companies that are focused on tech, AI, and solving some of the challenges of living in urban communities. Register here to attend the Demo Day.

The Smart Futures Lab program was created in partnership with Colorado Smart Cities Alliance and Innosphere Ventures. It was made possible thanks to a $2 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). The funds support startups and entrepreneurs in the civic innovation space led by the New Majority, which includes Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Women, and People with Disabilities.  

Participants complete the no-cost, six-month Smart Futures Lab program with the goal of developing and growing their tech companies. Program members have access to the lab’s physical coworking and prototyping space, which features a private 5G network for research and development of Internet of Things technologies.  As part of the program, participants engage with a custom education curriculum and extensive partnership networks, among other benefits. Additionally, each company is matched with a Smart Futures Lab Mentor Network mentor. The network comprises over 30 industry leaders with varying expertise, ranging from product development to business operations. The Smart Futures Lab also provides individualized support to each company with weekly meetings with a program manager and a dedicated marketing manager.   

“Through the Smart Futures Lab, we are able to speed the commercialization and implementation of ideas and research aimed at creating more livable and inclusive communities,” said Dan Griner, the director of the Smart Futures Lab. “This real-world application helps drive our faculty’s research and provides pathways for our students to realize their career goals. We take pride in supporting a variety of companies and look forward to their future successes.” 

Incubator Program: 

Four companies are participating in this year’s incubator program. In addition to physical resources at the lab, these companies are participating in six-month curriculum courses with subjects that cover developing an entrepreneurial mindset, creating a brand identity that leads through culture, 5G technology and its applications provided by World Wide Technology, RF Connect, Arrow Electronics, and T-Mobile; user-centered design research and product development; business model generation; financial literacy for founders; identifying metrics for success; IP and contracts for entrepreneurs provided by Sheridan Ross P.C.; and working with governments with content provided by CIVStart.  

The two CU Denver-led projects include:  

• Engineering Professor Farnoush Baneei-Kashani and PhD student Brian Zavareh are the founders of InfraSmart Solutions, which uses AI to automate the search for and identification of sewer pipeline defects. They are utilizing years of research findings to create a product that can help cities identify issues before they become crises.  

• Engineering Associate Professor and registered Engineer and Architect Caroline Clevenger and Assistant Professor Bing Han are developing Pin Point, a tool that uses augmented reality to assist people with cognitive impairments in navigating unfamiliar indoor environments.   

The other companies are: 

Addazu | Denver, CO  
Founder: Kelly Pickering
Addazu steps into the workforce and entry-level housing sector, leveraging its unique position as a design, engineering, and sales firm with a groundbreaking panelized modular housing system.  

Civic Trust | Boulder, CO
Founder: Matt Harder
Civic Trust provides process design, technology, and strategic communications support that allows your city to execute successful participatory budgeting initiatives. They help cities build, grow, and lead civic engagement through participatory budgeting. 

Accelerator Program 

Companies in this program have been around for a few years and are looking to accelerate their progress. They are participating in 32 weeks of programming from various company innovators, including a 16-week business program that covers 5G technology and its applications, design research, and product development. Worldwide Technologies, RF Connect, Arrow Electronics, T-Mobile, and Innosphere Ventures deliver the instruction. The group also goes through a six-week course focused on working with governments provided by CIVStart.   

N5 Sensors, a Maryland-based company that creates sensors for wildfire and air quality monitoring, is one of six companies in the accelerator program. The company grew out of research conducted at the University of Maryland, College Park.   

The other accelerator companies are: 

Tiami Networks | Elk Grove, CA
Founder: Amitav Mukherjee 
Tiami Networks extracts radar-sensing information from ambient 5G network signals to track people, vehicles, and objects.   

GO See The City | Orlando, FL
Founder: Aneshai Smith 
GO See The City is a tech startup dedicated to combating food waste and hunger in municipalities across the nation and beyond. Through their platform and app, they connect eateries of all types, including restaurants, stadiums, festivals, and food trucks, with surplus food to customers at a discount or to nonprofits. 

Ecosystem Informatics Inc. | Ontario, Canada 
Founder: Shirook Ali  
Ecosystem Informatics Inc. offers a comprehensive air quality monitoring (AQM) system via a combined hardware and software solution. It is deployed in sectors where accuracy, precision, timeliness, and reliability are non-negotiable.

Taro AI | San Francisco, CA
Founder: Cynthia Wu
Taro AI helps communities automate monitoring and issue detection for trees and urban infrastructure. It leverages existing imagery, machine learning, and computer vision and engages residents to map and monitor risks in the built environment. 

State of Place | Boston, MA 
Founder: Mariela Alfonzo, PhD
State of Place helps developers create more just, thriving communities more effectively, cost-efficiently, and inclusively by harnessing the power of AI to produce data-driven, evidence-based approaches that help governments identify optimal environment investments.